Alphabet shares fell about 10% in premarket trading after a weak third quarter, while Microsoft rose 4% as its results were seen as higher-than-expected growth that looks sustainable. Microsoft's Azure sales beat estimates by about 300 basis points, with cloud sales up 48% excluding currency effects, and the company guided to 49% to 50% Azure growth next quarter, while capex came in about $5 billion below estimates. Alphabet's search sales of $63.4 billion missed the $64.9 billion expected, and its negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion compared with an estimate of negative $3.5 billion. KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson said search is decelerating and margins have peaked near term, which could create an air pocket over the next 1-2 quarters.
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GOOGLMSFTearningscloud computing
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Related tickers and likely impact
GOOGL
▼ Likely negativeAlphabet Inc. (Class A)
Relevance: high
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services |
| Industry | Interactive Media & Services |
| Market cap | $4.0T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 325.61 |
| Change that session | +1.57% |
MSFT
▲ Likely positiveMicrosoft
Relevance: medium
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Systems Software |
| Market cap | $3.9T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 530.83 |
| Change that session | -0.09% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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